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Bayliss, Ducati pole at German World Superbike

&#160;Troy Bayliss put his Ducati 999R at the front for tomorrow's Lausitz
World Superbike round, followed by the Yamaha of Noriuki Haga,
two-tenths of a second behind.<br />Bayliss' pace, coupled with a
lackluster qualifying performance by Troy Corser, hardens the
Australian's grip on the championship.<br />Team Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama will start tomorrow&#8217;s 10th
World Superbike Championship round our Eurospeedway Lausitz from the
second row.
Both suffered from tyre problems on their Superpole laps and were unable
to maintain their top-three placings from regular qualifying: Both
Corser and Kagayama&#8217;s qualifying tyres didn&#8217;t work as well as expected
in the cooler conditions this afternoon but the duo are confident that
their race rubber will be more competitive tomorrow.

&#160;Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra Max Neukirchner managed to
qualify for the 16-rider Superpole shoot-out at the Eurospeedway Lausitz
and ended thirteenth fastest. He and the team were happy to have
achieved their goal of taking part in Superpole, after qualifying
sixteenth, and then delighted when Max managed to beat SBK regulars
Chris Walker (Kawasaki), Ruben Xaus (Ducati) and Michel Fabrizio (Honda)
in the process.
Once again it was Troy Bayliss (Ducati) who took Superpole with the only
sub-1:38 lap of the 16-rider shoot-out. Second is Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)
with James Toseland (Honda) third and Andrew Pitt (Yamaha) fourth.
Yamaha Motor Italia stars Noriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt will start
tomorrow's Superbike World Championship races at EuroSpeedway Lausitz
from the front row after setting the second and fourth fastest times in
today's superpole session.
Starting his grid deciding lap tenth of the 16 riders, Haga stormed to a
1:38.079 - over half a second quicker than his previous best of the
weekend, despite injuring his wrists in the pre-superpole practice. Haga
suffered ligament damage in both wrists after the rear of his machine
slid away from him. Nori-chan was able to save a potentially huge
highside accident but wrenched his arms in doing so. Despite the
discomfort, the Japanese Yamaha rider's time was good enough to hold the
pole position until the final runner of the day, series leader Troy
Bayliss (Ducati) went one tenth of a second faster and relegate the
Yamaha man to second place on the grid for tomorrow's two 24-lap races.
Norick Abe
After ending the combined qualifying in fifth, Pitt was also able to
make a big improvement on his qualifying run. The Australian set a time
of 1:38.291 to lie third, behind Haga and James Toseland (Honda) after
his run. An anxious wait saw Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki), Alex Barros
(Honda) and Troy Corser (Suzuki) all fail to go faster than the Yamaha,
guaranteeing Yamaha Motor Italia two bikes on the front of the grid for
tomorrow's races.
Despite producing stunning times on the soft qualifying rubber, the
Yamaha Motor Italia riders spent the majority of the day working to find
machine settings that will allow them to run consistently smooth lap
times and keep tyre wear to a minimum on the twisting and highly
abrasive EuroSpeedway circuit.
Yamaha Motor France's Norick Abe found himself on the superpole bubble,
missing out on a place in the top 16 by just three tenths of a second.
Team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi starts his first EuroSpeedway races from
25th position, while Belgian wild-card lines up for his first ever world
superbike races on the fifth row after qualifying 20th. The FIM
Superstock 1000 Cup champion, who won at Lausitz on his way to the
title, is competing on the machine he normally races in the German IDM
series.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
&quot;It's good to be on the front row, although I had to go straight to the
Clinica Mobile after superpole due to my wrist problem. It happened when
I was doing a long run in the free practice and I had a big slide. It
happened twice and although I was able to save the highside I have hurt
myself a little bit. Second place is quite surprising in the
circumstances but I was able to ride very smooth and not make the injury
worse. The doctors have made an X-ray and that shows nothing is broken.
They gave me some treatment and have bandaged me up. Now we have to see
how the race goes. I think it will be ok but 24 laps is a very long way!&quot;
Andrew Pitt
Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
&quot;I'm really happy to be on the front row and I know that our race set-up
should be good. The track temperature is a bit lower this weekend than
when we tested and as a result the rear tyres don't seem to last as
long. I was able to do over 15 laps on one of the tyres and Nori did a
lot of laps on the other choice and I think that we've got the bike
working well for the race. I think everyone's going to be going pretty
hard in the early laps and I was able to follow and pass a few riders in
practice who seemed to be having more tyre wear than us.&quot;
Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
&quot;It's coming better step by step this weekend and the good thing is that
whatever we've done we've never taken a step back. I made a long run in
the afternoon session where I was able to do consistent 1:40 laps. While
that's not at the very top level I think that for now we can be happy
with this. If I can continue this in the races then maybe it is possible
to make top 10 at the finish.&quot;
Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France)
&quot;It is going better and better all the time but we did not have enough
time to work through everything. I missed the private tests because I
was then injured and the practices are too short. It is very difficult.&quot;
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia)
&quot;Both riders first row is a good starting point and shows that the team
has been working very well this weekend. I predict it will be a
difficult race, because the correct tyre choice will make a big
difference to the result of the race. We will be working very hard
because we have the possibility for both riders to finish in the top
three of the championship, so this is target for rest of the season.&quot;
Troy Corser - 6th, 1:38.507:
&#8220;I knew from turn one that winning Superpole was going to be out of the
question because our qualifying tyre just doesn&#8217;t seem to work so well
when the conditions are cooler. I knew I was down on the first split and
although I tried my hardest, I just couldn&#8217;t make up the time. We made a
little change to the bike just before Superpole and the grip level was
down a little. But sixth place on the grid is not so bad and, as long as
I make good starts, podiums are by no means out of the question. I&#8217;m
pretty happy with the set-up of the bike on race rubber and feel we can
still challenge for a podium or two for sure. Lausitz is almost a
one-line racetrack so I need to be in the front pack otherwise it&#8217;s easy
to lose ground. Hopefully the conditions will be a bit warmer tomorrow
and that would make our tyre-life a bit better. We&#8217;ll have to see.&#8221;
Yukio Kagayama - 8th, 1:38.734:
&#8220;I am disappointed today because I really felt that I could do a 1:37
lap. But on my Superpole lap, my front tyre kept tucking in and the grip
was not so good. It was not the same feeling as I had with this type of
tyre in practice so maybe the track was much colder. I pushed as hard as
I dared, but I did not want to crash. I need two good starts tomorrow;
this is my plan. I want to be on the podium again!&#8221;
Max Neukirchner - 13th, 1:39.322:
&#8220;I suppose that our goal before the weekend was to qualify for
Superpole, so we certainly did that ok. My Superpole lap was not so bad
and I definitely tried my best to make sure I wasn&#8217;t the last of the
sixteen - so that was good. Now I have two long and difficult races
ahead of me tomorrow. Starting so far back on the grid is never easy,
but I am not under any big pressure here as I am still learning the bike
and team. Every time I go out on the bike, I learn a bit more and then
we analyse the information and try and improve the next time out. So far
the plan is going ok.&#8221;
Final WSB Qualifying: 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:37.923, 2 Haga (J-Yamaha)
1:38.079, 3 Toseland (GB-Honda) 1:38.254, 4 Pitt (Aus-Yamaha) 1:38.291,
5 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:38.479, 6 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra) 1:38.507, 7 Barros (Bra-Honda) 1:38.613, 8 Yukio Kagayama
(J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:38.734, 9 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda)
1:38.749, 10 Martin (Aus-Petronas) 1:39.065. 13 Max Neukirchner
(D-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) 1:39.322.
SUPERSTOCK 600:
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra ride Xavier Simeon raced to third place
at the Eurospeedway Lausitz today and still leads the series by a
healthy 25 points with just two rounds remaining.
The young Belgian had a terrific race-long fight with David Giugliano
for second spot, but decided that third place was better then making a
risky pass.
Italian Nicola Canepa (Ducati) led all but the first lap of the race and
took the chequered flag by four-tenths-of-a-second.
Xavier Simeon - 3rd:
&#8220;The race was a good one and I enjoyed the battle very much. The three
of us at the front had a good, fast rhythm and we soon pulled away from
the rest of the field. I did get past Giugliano one time, but he
re-passed me almost straight away and after that I just shadowed him and
waited in case he made a mistake. If I had tried a difficult move, I
might have crashed, so I did the best I could with an eye on the
Championship.&#8221;
Superstock Results: 1 Canepa (I-Ducati), 2 Giugliano (I-Kawasaki), 3
Xavier Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 4 Colucci (I-Ducati), 5
Lundh (S-Honda), 6 Jezek (CZ-Kawasaki),
Championship Points: 1 Xavier Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra)
176, 2 Canepa 151, 3 Giugliano 120, 4 Antonelli 68, 5 Colucci 68, 6
Jezek 61.